Monday, June 21, 2010

Damien Minton Gallery - Gerry Wedd & Michael Callaghan

I can't believe how slack I've been at putting up this post... lawdy ... almost a week...

In a gallery scene that usually travels the safe road, I love seeing a couple of shows with fangs.

Michael Callaghan's 'The torture memo' pulls no punches as it dissects torture in Iraq in a clean and colourful manner.

Text in English and translated carefully into Islamic script carefully describes 'torture' techniques almost giving the viewer a do it yourself guide to water boarding. Go on! ... try it at home...

The most chilling image is the suicide bomber, wearing a hoodie, looking like a fashion shoot for street wear, aching to push down a the button in his hand...

This is Gilbert and George in the age of terror...

and then in the project space...

'Deep in the woods', Gerry Wedd has made the most fragile of ceramics. Some fragile in construction and some fragile to the senses...

We have a kangaroo hung from a tree that looks as if it will snap, a kangaroo on fire...Thylacine styled dogs biting and snarling ... mock Asian blue glazes attack trad English glazes. It's ceramics with bite, questioning the gulfs between cultures and ideologies... and they also succeed at just being plain entertaining.

Now I'm usually the one that runs screaming into the street when the speeches start... but not when Damien speaks. It's become tradition for Damien to thank his artists, I really like that... and like that he is eloquent, humorous and knows when to shut up. Maybe he should hold speech workshops for some of the more wordy dealers around town.